Led by Cantrell, some bars are banding together to try to squelch efforts to cap the number of alcohol licenses in this college town, arguing that they pay a large share of the district's sales taxes and have restored life, drink by drink, to the once-faltering downtown.

''We're not afraid of the competition as much as we're afraid of these people with their good intentions,'' Cantrell said. ''They take money with one hand and slap us with the other.''

Shopkeepers say that having so many bars hurts retail stores because their patrons visit at night, when clothing, gift and record stores are closed. That means less daytime foot traffic on the street. Fewer stores also discourages some shoppers from choosing downtown over a nearby mall. Members of the Athens Downtown Council, a business group, have asked commissioners to issue no new alcohol licenses for the next six months.

Their most recent complaint is that a downtown Gap that closed is soon to be replaced by Bourbon Street, described as frozen-drink bar.

Athens officials are still calculating the exact balance of bars, restaurants and stores downtown, but so far it appears to be a horse race, with some 70 downtown establishments holding alcohol licenses compared to about 70 retailers, not including offices, hair salons and other establishments outside the realm of entertainment and shopping.

While some bars don't mind the idea of a license cap, because it would limit competition for customers, other bars are resisting the idea of a pouring-license moratorium as another government intrusion.

Cantrell and others argue that their businesses provide jobs and upkeep for downtown buildings, along with rent, sales and property tax dollars. And Cantrell is still chafing over a hike last year in license fees, and a lingering discussion about street odor.

''We're trying to keep downtown pretty (much) like they want,'' said Xander Hannon, owner of the Georgia Bar, which won a county award for recycling business of the year. The building housing the bar was a warehouse before Hannon's father purchased the property in the 1980s.

''We can't let it go back to 'Leave It to Beaver' days,'' Cantrell said of downtown. A drop in the number of bars means ''the property taxes are going to skyrocket. It's counterproductive.''

As the license moratorium issue simmers, authorities are hoping to keep amity between bar owners and store owners, fostered in recent years with the business council and a two-year-old hospitality resource panel that examines concerns of bars and restaurants, said Art Jackson, director of the Downtown Development Authority.

The herd of bars here could be thinned somewhat under a move by Athens-Clarke County commissioners in November to punish businesses that serve alcohol to minors -- not just the employees who pour and teen-agers who drink it. Under the measure approved by a 10-0 vote, businesses found in violation will get probation, education courses or, as a last resort, have their licenses revoked.

No one, Jackson said, wants the corruption that has been seen in some Northeastern U.S. towns, where he said license caps have sometimes led to a trade in pouring licenses purchased solely for black-market resale.

''I think we're all wanting the same thing,'' Jackson said. ''There's a great concern for the balance, but that doesn't mean anyone's anti-retail or anti-bar.''

Barring Charleston, ''we have more retail than anyone on the East Coast,'' per capita, he said. ''We need to protect what gives us that viable daytime life. And our reputation internationally is the night life.''